Saturday, April 26, 2014

The dour old ajumma's greeting was hilarious. "Wow... ajeossi's back," she droned. Her bored, weary, cynical tone completely undermined her words. For her, my appearance was the most unsurprising, unexciting thing in the universe.

I'm here tonight (Saturday night) as well, then it's back to Hayang on Sunday after a session of face-stuffing at Tabom in Itaewon with the evil and crafty John McCrarey.

Look, I'm not bragging, but I did happen to live in Chongno for twelve years, including a spell in Nakwon-dong itself. Basically, it's Seoul's original gay area, and all those motels are for the younger couples who go to boink after seeing a flick at one of the many movie theaters in the area. There's also an entire section of flophouses that mostly cater to day-laborers, and that reeks of piss and soju. Last time I checked the going rate was W8,000 per day for a room the size of one p'yong, but it wasn't exactly the kind of place you'd be proud to bring a date to!

I don't want to ruin my favorite places by mentioning them online, but two weekends ago, I was in the Russian area by Dongdaemun Market and found a place for just W20,000. I actually offered W25,000 because that's what the notice said, but the friendly ajosshi who ran the joint said he only had one of the smaller rooms available and told me that W20,000 would be fine. W20,000 for a yogwan room in central Seoul ain't bad at all.

Anyway, the point is that Nakwon-dong is nothing special to travel all the way to just for accommodation. There are cheap motels and yogwans all over Kangbuk -- Kangnam is a different story, of course -- so just grab a place in a side street that is convenient to where you happen to be doing your business or entertaining. That's what most Koreans do themselves, anyway. There are even a few places for W25,000 or W30,000 in Bogwang-dong, which is just down the road from It'aewon proper on the way to the Han River.

My favorite yogwan in Insa-dong just closed down earlier this year, I recently found out. It was only W30,000 a night and very clean and centrally located. They even offered discounts on longer-term stays, and didn't jack up the prices on the weekend (as is the general rule in Nakwon-dong). Alas, it has been converted into some sort of fancy "guest house" oriented towards foreign tourists by the new owners, and is now much more expensive. Another one bites the dust, which is pretty much par of the course in Seoul these days, isn't it?

Oh, and if I had to guess, I'd say the ajumma's crap attitude was due to the fact that since the yogwans and motels in that area mostly cater to couples on dates, if they're lucky they can turn over some of their rooms a couple of times a night. As a single traveller taking a room for a couple of days, that probably ran counter to expectations, but since it sounds like a lower-end place she wasn't about to turn away business. At the same time, she was no doubt surprised to see you again, hence her rather ambivalent attitude.

You're close: I was in Donui-dong, which is one "dong" over from Nakwon-dong. The yeogwan I stayed at normally charges about W20,000 a night, but I got the amped-up weekend rate, alas: W25,000.

I'm happy with the pube yeogwan's location, however; Jongno isn't a bad place to be, and for the interview with "Metatron," it was literally just up the street, a very short taxi ride away.

But, yes: I'd like to stay somewhere cleaner, with better, less run-down facilities. If these places you're talking about have spot-free wallpaper, no weird hairs on the bed, un-cracked mirrors, generally clean floors, and a speckle-free toilet, I'll be a happy camper.

It's a matter of personal preference, I suppose, but that whole area between Pagoda Park and the No. 5 and No. 3 Lines of Chongno-3-ga Station is generally referred to as Nakwong-dong, at least in my experience. The thing about that area is that because it is a well-trafficked entertainment area, the motels and yogwans there can charge a higher than normal rate, so it's better to just get away from it all. If you found somewhere there that is normally W20,000, or even W25,000, it's certain to be the bottom of the barrel.

Like I said, you'll find some good deals in Bogwang-dong if you look around. That neighborhood hasn't been colonized by the hipsters yet, unlike the nearby areas of HBC and Kyongnidan, where the motels I've checked out are significantly more pricey. Those bastions of poseurdom give me the cooties, anyway -- way worse than the scariest yoinsuk in Ch'ongnyang-ri!

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